Premier Cru Fine Wines files for bankruptcy owing $70M

Premier Cru, a wine retailer at 1011 University Ave. in Berkeley has filed for bankruptcy stating it owes $70 million, but only has $7 million in assets, most of that wine. Photo: Gordon Commercial Realty

BERKELEYSIDE: High-end Berkeley wine company Premier Cru, run by John Fox, filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy on Jan. 8, claiming it had more than $70 million in debts but only $7 million in assets – most of it wine. Around 1,000 customers who were hoping to get delivery of wine they paid for but never received are probably out of luck.

The city of Berkeley is one of the entities that might get left in the lurch. Bankruptcy court filings show that Fox – doing business as Fox Ortega Enterprises – owes the city $175,000, although the papers do not state why. Fox also owes money to the IRS, the Franchise Tax Board, and California’s Employment Development Department.

But the vast majority of those Premier Cru owes money to are the customers who put their faith in the wine store, which for years enjoyed a good reputation as a place to get fine, often hard to find, wine at a good price. Many customers used Premier Cru to buy wine “futures,” essentially spending their dollars to buy wine that was still aging in barrels in France or Italy.

Last year, 11 customers, many of them wealthy individuals from Asia, filed lawsuits against Premier Cru, John Fox, and his partner Hector Ortega, claiming they had never received wine they had paid for. At the time, John Fox told Berkeleyside that those suing did not fully understand how the system worked.